


i'm the alpha

by triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)



Series: FullmoonFiclet Entries [88]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Canon Compliant, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 22:33:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12375516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/triggeringthehealing
Summary: "I don't care about power. Not anymore."Looking back at what he said once, and what the truth was before he did, only the first part of his words was ever completely true.





	i'm the alpha

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Full Moon Ficlet](https://fullmoon-ficlet.livejournal.com/519873.html) challenge on Livejournal - prompt #245: power

"I don't care about power. Not anymore."

Looking back at what he said once, and what the truth was before he did, only the first part of his words was ever completely true. 

Derek didn't care about power in the way that Peter did, or Deucalion and his minions. He cared about using the power that he had in the right way, even when it was absolutely impossible to do so. Like when he gave the bite to kids who were looking for things that he couldn't provide. Things he thought he had no right to be offering considering the situation. 

In the end though, years later, it was Isaac who told him that he was wrong. That he did give Boyd the companionship and bonds that he craved. That he did give Erica the freedom from her illness and with that the freedom to be herself. And he gave Isaac the freedom from the abuse he was suffering at the hands of his father, and the bonds of the pack that replaced the missing love from his family. 

"You didn't care about power way before you gave it up for your sister," Isaac told him. "You were never an Alpha because you wanted to be in charge. We got that, we all did, even though we never said it. But we were kids, and we didn't know how to tell you." 

"I shouldn't have had that power over anyone," Derek replied, still not really believing Isaac.

"Maybe. But it wasn't your choice, and in the end you did the best you could with it. You  _ know _ why things ended the way they did, and it had nothing to do with you abusing your power, or screwing up because you'd have refused to admit you were wrong." 

Derek knew that, but it was always hard to not blame himself for how things went in Beacon Hills while he was the Alpha. While he was supposed to take care of the territory and be the protector that his mother used to be. 

What Isaac told him was echoed by everyone else over time. Now, years later, he's still not sure that he believes it completely, that he thinks that he did well with the power he had. 

But when his eyes flashed red a few weeks earlier after a battle in which he took out the Alpha of a pack that was traveling around and turning unwilling humans, he wasn't afraid of the power anymore. Because he understands it better now, and not being in imminent danger, he knows that he  _ can _ be an Alpha his mother would be proud of. And when he builds a pack, it's with an Emissary to guide him, one who's been by his side before either of them even realized it. 

"I'm the Alpha now," Derek told Stiles with a smirk on his lips after the battle was over. 

It spoke for itself that there was no sign of worry when Stiles looked at him with a contemplating expression. 

"Well, that's not as impressive as when I was sixteen," Stiles said a few beats later. 

They're going to build a pack slowly, and Derek still doesn't  _ care _ about power. But he does care about doing things so that he's sure that he's doing them right. And finally, he does believe that he can.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://froggydarren.tumblr.com/) || [my sterek fic tumblr](http://triggeringthehealing.tumblr.com/)


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